


smells like love

by electric_stydiax



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/F, Roommates to lovers, confession via homemade gifts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:02:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28402917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/electric_stydiax/pseuds/electric_stydiax
Summary: Kanoka spends her first holiday away from home with her roommate Hitoka. She also has a crush on said roommate and decides it's time to be honest about her feelings. It takes some bravery (and candle-making), but both girls have a happy hoilday indeed.
Relationships: Amanai Kanoka/Yachi Hitoka
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25
Collections: Haikyuu Secret Santa 2020





	smells like love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crosswalks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crosswalks/gifts).



December 11th, Berkley, CA

Kanoka hated winter, or least she thought she did until her first Christmas away from home. California didn’t have snow and ice like Japan did, and she found herself missing it, the absence almost a hole in her psyche.

Her view of the city was beautiful, the sea and beach almost beckoning her. _Come sink into my sand, come feel my ocean again, we miss you, we long for you._ Kanoka grew up in Miyagi, and in comparison to the buzz and chaos of the West Coast, home was always a touch calmer. She didn’t mind it though, the change in scenery as she moved overseas for university.

“Amanai? Ama-chan? Where are you? Lunch is almost ready! I made those croissants you like with the raspberry tea!” Yachi Hitoka, her roommate stumbles into Kanoka’s room, flush and clumsy. She nearly trips on the doorknob, the object catching onto her sweater and slipping her up.

“Hitoka! Oh gosh, let me help you up!” Kanoka picks Yachi up in her arms and pats her head gently. For a moment, they stay like that and Kanoka loses herself in Hitoka’s layers of hazel and amber in her eyes. 

In tandem, Hitoka can’t focus on anything beyond Amanai’s navy irises. They reminded her of the sea, a chameleon of shades and hues as she let her mind drift. While Hitoka was raised in the quiet of the countryside, she was curious about how the ocean sounded and felt. When they first moved in, she remembered how Kanoka would run down to the beach each day, just to be still and think.

“Kanoka-chan? Aren’t you cold? I brought you a blanket because I was worried you’d get cold. Isn’t it getting dark as well?” Hitoka shifted closer, her eyes filled with concerns and fear.

“No, Yacchan!! Come sit with me!” Kanoka pats the sand for Hitoka to sit on, and she blushes. For a moment, everything is silent save the waves and the birds. 

“You think the universe knows if we’re simply meant for someone? Like how the first soulmates were bound together until the gods split them apart?” Hitoka muses for a moment, remembering the tale like it was written in her class notes.

“Perhaps. I personally think so, but how we see our soulmate is different. It’s probably not like the red string of fate that pulls us to them, but rather an internal magnetism? Just this unexplainable pull to one another one day.”

Amanai pauses for a moment before she responds. “I can understand that, the desire bringing them together. I wish whoever finds their way to me thinks of me as fondly as I do of the ocean. It’s almost like I can hear her speak to me.”

Hitoka’s brain becomes quiet as she listens to her roommate talk as the sun sets. 

~x~

“Kanoka? I’m alright, I promise. You can put me down now, I promise I’m ok!” Yachi taps Kanoka’s cheek lightly, and she sets her down.

Lunch is a soft blur, as the taste of cucumber and lemonade linger on both sets of lips. It’s an array of sandwiches and snacks, all made by Hitoka.

“Hitoka, thank you for lunch. You really didn’t have to go to all this trouble for me, let me help you clean up!”

Yachi places a finger to Kanoka’s lips, which shushes her. “Not a word! I want to take care of you, so let me, alright?” Kanoka has to try to keep her blush in as Hitoka’s index finger graces her lips, the softness of it pressing against her lips.

Yachi begins to set the dishes in the dishwasher after wiping the debris into the trash can, with Kanoka watching quietly.

Amanai checks the calendar, noticing how Christmas was two weeks away. Neither she nor Hitoka would be going home, if only because plane tickets were too expensive at this point. Their roommates Maiko and Mika went home already days ago, leaving just her and Hitoka to their lonesome.

_Maybe Hitoka would like a gift, but what would one get a woman who’s more so an angel?_

“Kano-chan? You’re glaring a hole in the calendar, dare I ask what it did to upset you?” Kanoka snaps out of her revelry, focuses her eyes on Hitoka’s face, and sighs.

“I just noticed Christmas is two weeks away, and that we should really start making plans for then, after finals and our paper on poetry types. Is there anything you would prefer for dinner?”

“Would you mind lo mein and fried rice too much? I’m really thinking we’ll want something salty and indulgent. Ooh! Chocolate too, please?” Kanoka pauses for a moment, realizing she adores the sound of Hitoka’s voice. Soft, yet light like a summer’s breeze.

“Not at all, whatever you want as long as you’re happy. I-I don’t mind anything! 

“One more thing before I start my homework. What’s your favorite scent, Hitoka?” Hitoka taps her finger on her chin for a moment, avoiding Amanai’s gaze. 

“Vanilla with Cherry, Mint and Lavender. Lavender reminds me of when I first got here and got lost. I was so anxious and wanted to cry until I found some lavender and just took a moment to breathe. It just reminds me to slow down and pause.”

Kanoka scribbles this down, thinking of gifts that could let Hitoka reminisce while also being sweet, a testament to the affections eating her alive.

_Candles. That’s it, and whenever she gets sad she can light it and the smell will remind her of fond memories. Now, how to make a candle...hm._

When Kanoka gets ready for bed that night, she searches “how to make a candle” and hopes she’s not in over her head in attempting this. After cross-referencing multiple articles, writing multiple notes from videos and nearly giving herself a headache, Kanoka feels confident about making not one, but three candles. 

_Step 1: weigh and melt your wax_

After a bit of research and cross-referencing multiple sites, Kanoka went with soy wax. It wouldn’t make smoke in the apartment or be too intense once Yachi lit the candle either. Kanoka writes down what kind of wax to get, and how much. Assuming her math is right, each candle is 14.5 oz or 411 grams. _Why didn’t the whole world use grams? Much easier to do math with_ , Kanoka muses. 

Then she starts scribbling, multiple numbers running through her brain. If 411 equals one candle, then 411 times three equals 1,233 grams. _Is this overkill? Not at all, being accurate, so everything turns out well isn’t overkill. Remember Kanoka, this is for Yachi!! Hitoka, with her sweet smile and charm. The sweetest girl in the whole world, and she literally made cookies for months._

She buys six pounds of soy wax, realizing that she probably will just make everyone candles as gifts for the foreseeable future. Now for the next step, she thinks, hopefully picking out jars isn’t half as hard as the math was. She takes her own empty candle and measures for the diameter. Almost three inches, 2.75 to be exact. She scribbles that down too, along with the height (3.50 inches = 8.89 cm) before going to grab a snack. _Goodness, I didn’t think making something, so simple would be this difficult!_

_Step 2: prepare the candle containers_

Kanoka realizes now that she also has to make labels for the candles but pushes the thought aside for now. Now that she has the dimensions for the candles she can find a cute set of jars. So, she scrolls until she sees a cute slate gray jar with a wooden lid on top. 

_Perfect! Just stylish enough to where it’ll fit nicely in her room, but unique enough to where it’s obviously not cookie cutter._

Then she hears a knock at the door and nearly panics. She opens the door to her roommate, blushing and quiet.

“H-Hi Yachi! What do you need help with?” Kanoka’s body was a live wire, small shocks running up her spine as she gazes down at Hitoka.

“Kanoka, I can’t reach our cast iron skillet even _with_ our step stool. Could you please help me?” Hitoka’s face was red, her bottom lip poking out in an innocent manner.

Kanoka wants to hold that bottom lip in her mouth and learn Hitoka’s taste on her tongue, to speak in volumes. A new set of parts and pieces, custom-made for the woman in front of her.

_Step 3: weigh out your fragrance_

Kanoka regrets being a researcher by function, because now she’s 60 browser tabs deep on her laptop cross-referencing what types of essential oils would be best for soy candles (read: she’s freaking out because there’s so many choices and possibilities she could use for Hitoka’s candles, but it must be perfect for her, a lily in a field of daisies.)

After a few hours, she finally is down to two brands, one that’s inexpensive and the other wholesale. If she had the patience, Kanoka would just press the flowers for their oils herself. Anyway, into the cart with those. Two sets of oils, but perhaps she’d make more for Hitoka. 

_Step 4: pour the candles_

Steady hands, steady hands now. Kanoka cautiously picks up the pitcher of relatively hot wax by the handle and carefully pours wax into each jar evenly as possible. Now, she waits and starts making the labels, trying not to lose her mind as she types up and prints the label and a letter for Hitoka.

_Step 5: Give to Hitoka_

Kanoka was nervous. Despite successfully hiding her gift from her roommate for nine consecutive days, she was still apprehensive about giving Yachi her gift. She knew there was no guarantee Hitoka would return her feelings, but she had to be honest and try.

She presses each label onto each jar, finishing them off with a ribbon on top. Kanoka steps back and examines how they look.

Gray marble patterns against an ivory ribbon with a soft white sticker describing each scent. “They’re perfect, and I hope she likes them as much I liked making them.” Kanoka finally lets out a frustrated breath as she lets it sink in, _oh gods I’m confessing to Hitoka._.

She hopes it doesn’t backfire in her face and if nothing else they can in fact still live like this, Hitoka holding the place of the sun while Kanoka was the earth moving around her passionately and without fail.

December 25th, mid-afternoon

The food arrives, and they eat in mostly silence, both minds occupied by how the other would like their present. Hitoka had no idea if Kanoka would like the hair clips and dress, but decided to go with her gut and go for it. 

“Merry Christmas! Here’s your gift, Hitoka!” Kanoka slides the candles across the table so that Yachi can examine them. Her roommate picks each one up, smelling them and smiling as she realized they were candles. 

“Do you know why I said Vanilla with Cherry was my favorite scent? Kano-chan, it reminds me of you, your sweetness against my skin as we sit close. I think the first time we met, you pulled me into a hug, and you smelled like cherries. It’s clung to my mind ever since, so much that I made you a cherry dress honestly. Open it?”

Kanoka fumbles with the wide, broad lavender box in front of her, tugging at the ribbon gently before it tumbles away. She lifts the box to reveal a gorgeous dress, with balloon sleeves in a sheer lilac, while the rest of the dress was a deeper royal purple which flares at the bottom.

“Hitoka. I love it, how did you know I loved purple so much?”

“I didn’t, I just think it looks beautiful on you. I honestly just like… you, Ama-chan. I know we’ve barely known each other for long, but I can’t help feel drawn to you.”

“Like when you asked me about soulmates? I feel it too, Yachi. It’s like you make up this universe of beauty and unexplored possibilities. I want you to feel as valued as the Sun is to the earth. Would it be alright if I kissed you?”

Hitoka nearly hops the table and kisses Kanoka, the flavor of cherry on their lips as they finally come together.


End file.
